Eulex: Lawyers arrested for obstructing proceedings
March 25 - Eulex spokesperson Irina Gudeljevic said on Tuesday that the two people arrested earlier in the day are suspected of having obstructed evidence or official proceedings.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Wednesday, March 26, 2014
The Mitrovica operating group conducted a search operation in northern Mitrovica late Monday, and two suspects were interviewed and subsequently arrested on orders from the prosecutor, Gudeljevic told the press.They are currently in police detention and have been charged with obstructing evidence or official proceedings, contrary to Article 394 of the Kosovo penal code, Gudeljevic said.Lawyers Dejan A. Vasic and Faruk Korenica, who are representing Zarko Veselinovic, a Serb charged with attempted murder of two members of Kosovo's ROSU special police units, were arrested by the Eulex police in the operation early Tuesday.Last year, Korenica and Vasic defended a group of people charged in connection with incidents during an illegal seizure of the court building in northern Kosovska Mitrovica in 2008.
Vasic is defending Laza Lazic from Strpce, who has been charged with "association against the constitutional acts of Kosovo" and endangering the free will of voters in the local elections held on December 1, 2013.He is also the lawyer of former Kosovska Mitrovica police chief Dragoljub Delibasic, who has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in an alleged war crime in 1999. and post-war incidents in 2000, including an aggravated murder.Dejan A. Vasic, a family man and a father of four, is one of the most prominent lawyers in northern Kosovo.Serbs in northern Kosovo blocked for a short time on Tuesday the main road in the village of Rudare in the municipality of Zvecan, protesting against the latest arrests of Serbs in the province.Disgruntled citizens blocked the main road at around 3 p.m., after lawyers Dejan Vasic and Faruk Koprivica were arrested in northern Kosovska Mitrovica early on Tuesday. Among others, the lawyers are defending the four Serbs who were arrested in the last few months.Representatives of local self-governments and interim administration bodies of the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern KiM also took part in the protest.They warned that they will be forced to deny the presence to EULEX in the northern part of the province, if an end is not put to unilateral actions and intimidation of the population.Goran Rakic, mayor of northern Mitrovica, told reporters that representatives of the local self-government in northern Kosovo demand from EULEX to stop ignoring the institutions in the north, the Kosovo Police Regional Command in particular.The protest was held in the presence of Kosovo police, and lasted for one hour and a half, after which traffic was fully restored along the major road from Pristina to Raska.
Vasic is defending Laza Lazic from Strpce, who has been charged with "association against the constitutional acts of Kosovo" and endangering the free will of voters in the local elections held on December 1, 2013.He is also the lawyer of former Kosovska Mitrovica police chief Dragoljub Delibasic, who has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in an alleged war crime in 1999. and post-war incidents in 2000, including an aggravated murder.Dejan A. Vasic, a family man and a father of four, is one of the most prominent lawyers in northern Kosovo.Serbs in northern Kosovo blocked for a short time on Tuesday the main road in the village of Rudare in the municipality of Zvecan, protesting against the latest arrests of Serbs in the province.Disgruntled citizens blocked the main road at around 3 p.m., after lawyers Dejan Vasic and Faruk Koprivica were arrested in northern Kosovska Mitrovica early on Tuesday. Among others, the lawyers are defending the four Serbs who were arrested in the last few months.Representatives of local self-governments and interim administration bodies of the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern KiM also took part in the protest.They warned that they will be forced to deny the presence to EULEX in the northern part of the province, if an end is not put to unilateral actions and intimidation of the population.Goran Rakic, mayor of northern Mitrovica, told reporters that representatives of the local self-government in northern Kosovo demand from EULEX to stop ignoring the institutions in the north, the Kosovo Police Regional Command in particular.The protest was held in the presence of Kosovo police, and lasted for one hour and a half, after which traffic was fully restored along the major road from Pristina to Raska.
